Once upon a time I used to believe in the tooth fairy. The product would be announced before an invited group of analysts, mainstream media, and employees. Months later, I would get my hands on it. A year later I would go through the process again. We’ll call that product hardware, as in iPhone or iPad or EarPods or whatever.
About a year ago, things changed at Apple, or rather the ecosystem surrounding the company. From a tightly controlled information system to a leak-driven marketing phase, you no longer had to wait for the event or availability or media interviews to experience the product. Now you simply waited for the leaks, remixing them to flesh out the details, and maybe watch the live video broadcast. I dropped that last step a few months later.
A similar transition involved the 2024 presidential election, where the cable media lost what remaining credibility and elected Trump and Company. Regardless of my party affiliation, I felt myself moving to a category of observer akin to independent but more accurately dubious of any credible expertise or even just plain attitude I could relate to. In short, I understood Trump was going to win.
Ever since then, I’ve consumed news on video and tech media through a different lens. I focus not on the messages, the political affiliation, or the outcome of the relevant events on the calendar. Instead, I examine the language and demeanor of the anchors, guests, and lower-third crafted summaries of live speech recognition and transcription services. In this way, I can scan YouTube TV’s 4-screen amalgam of BBC, MSNBC, Fox, and CNN, tracking how the networks are spinning the same news or as much of it as serves their purposes. Here are the results of my research:
Trump is winning. His intuitive understanding of live media is as shocking as was JFK’s mastery of live press conferences in his term in office. If he somehow succeeds in brokering an end to the Ukraine fighting, his support from all US citizens will rise and stick above the 50% threshold. If Schumer can weather his fight with progressives in his own party, Democrats will move into a centrist role they need to survive and challenge Trump. If Apple sticks to its guns and defines its role at the center of 1st party data, and moves the hardware platform to a Vision Pro core, its AI strategy will beat OpenAI and Google. When the tech press suggests Apple (or anyone) acquire a company, investors should bet otherwise.
There’s a moment in every sentence where we have the opportunity to jump on a bandwagon, and if one’s not obvious or there, create it. Ringo had nothing but his wits about him when he quit his group and took a vacation. George completed the coup when he took over his group and took Bob Dylan for 40, Alex. John broke up his song-writing partnership and wrote some of the words to Taxman. Suddenly, it opened Revolver. Paul played the guitar solo, and George was ok with that.
Think back to that time in your life when you realize how adrift you are on a sea of oblivious. We were sitting side by side in a small studio in Woodstock, playing drums. Richard had just finished playing a song fragment on the upright piano in the corner, and he asked me if I knew how to finish it. Of course not, I thought but tried not to admit it. Now we were drumming and Richard says to me, you’re backwards. I took it personally, not realizing that he was just stating what was obvious to him. I write left handed, but play right handed. Life is brief.
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